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Why I Was Fired From a Tech Startup and What My Boss Had to Say About It

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Re: Why I Was Fired From a Tech Startup and What My Boss Had to Say About It

#31

Post by pnathan »

nknighthb wrote: post #25
PommeDeTerre wrote: post #21

Regardless of whether it's right or wrong, physical appearance can often have a big impact when dealing with certain clientele. Certain types of clients just prefer to deal with people who conform to what might be considered a more "conservative" appearance. Deviating from their expectations can reduce their level of trust, for instance, which can impact business dealings. This is especially true when dealing with cu…

> Some people have also had very, very bad experiences with other people who dress or groom themselves in a specific way. I've had very, very bad experiences with people who dress in suits. Indeed, the people who have had the most severe negative effects on my life have invariably worn suits. And I can't name many people I've had positive experiences with who ever wear suits. Yet, somehow, I don't think that's what y…

I think if we shook things around and looked at the PommeDeTerre's explanation another way, it'd come out like this:

> People who are dressed in a suit represent the existing power structures; lots of people like said power structures; people with suits represent some sort of alignment with power structures and can resonate as an authority and conformer to the way things are.

I want to clearly distance myself from this statement, but I recognize that it (or some variant of it) is adhered to by many people.

Re: Why I Was Fired From a Tech Startup and What My Boss Had to Say About It

#32

Post by bdcravens »

My take was that once you strip away all the unicorn and ice cream BS, there's little magic that prevents a startup from being based on the same values that drive the largest companies. Bad leadership and greed tend to have the same result, whether in SF, Chicago, or St. Louis.

Re: Why I Was Fired From a Tech Startup and What My Boss Had to Say About It

#33

Post by epoxyhockey »

One of the more frustrating things about working in the Bay Area is having to deal with finicky personalities like the OP's boss & CEO. It really takes a psychopath to court a potential hire so hard and then fire them 5 weeks later due to their appearance (after they sign a couple of large customers, btw).

If this were NYC, I could understand stabbing someone in the back after they secure a couple of large customers. Though, in the Bay Area, it's like being stabbed in the back by a meth addict; sometimes it makes sense, most of the time it doesn't.

Re: Why I Was Fired From a Tech Startup and What My Boss Had to Say About It

#34

Post by dustingetz »

peter_l_downs wrote: post #19

> I was told that neither salary nor equity were negotiable, but I was sold on the promise of the company. Yo, fuck that. Everything is negotiable to one degree or another. That sounds like someone trying to take advantage of you.

There was a negotiation and he lost

Re: Why I Was Fired From a Tech Startup and What My Boss Had to Say About It

#35

Post by smtddr »

driverdan wrote: post #9
beefxq wrote: post #5

"Anyone who is worth a shit has been fired at least once."

Nope. I know plenty of people who have significant worth to their companies/clients and never been fired.

... or never told you, or knew that they should quit before getting fired, or laid off(but the boss knows it was to get rid of him/her).

Re: Why I Was Fired From a Tech Startup and What My Boss Had to Say About It

#36

Post by logicallee »

I have a very different take here. I will delete it if it doesn't resonate with others:

Those who live by the sword die by it.

He particularly liked "you're a great cultural fit." That means you are JUST LIKE THEM. We can't say, "same race" (but it's true), we can't say, "same gender" (but it's true), and we can't say, "same taste in technology, living address, clothes and what you do on your off time" (but it's true - to the point that side projects are a part of many CTO job descriptions).

Well, those who live by the sword die by it. What I really like about this story is that it shows just how shallow "cultural fit" is.

At my company, I have no idea what some of my C-level people look like. This will absolutely shock some of you. It also gives me access to talent at a multiple of talent to dollars that you cannot even dream of.

Sure, we will never put an "About us" page up with a 'culturally fit' workforce. We might even just use models of 16 28-year-old men who look exctly the same (maybe off of a swim team), give them all glasses and a Macbook, and put them all in a company T-shirt, with a footnote "Representative models."

Meanwhile the rest of you feel free to continue warming chairs with them.

Re: Why I Was Fired From a Tech Startup and What My Boss Had to Say About It

#37

Post by moron4hire »

I got fired from a hardware startup because I wasn't pulling enough billable hours (actually, it was because I argued too much, didn't think it was good to put all of our eggs in one basket with one client--especially an abusive one--when we were trying to not be a consulting company, but the billable hours issue is what they went with). Of course, if they had not ignored my reports on a quarter million dollars of missing license revenue... oh well, their loss.

Re: Why I Was Fired From a Tech Startup and What My Boss Had to Say About It

#38

Post by freehunter »

ececconi wrote: post #29

> Human Resources is not your advocate. Human Resources is a risk-assessment department. Powerful statement.

This is basically why unions were formed in the first place. HR is there to protect the company, and they are owned by the company. Unions are there to protect the employees, and they are owned by the employees.

I know the current attitude is against unions, and there are probably a lot of anti-union people on HN, for good reasons. Unions realized their power and became corrupt, became money-hungry, became power-hungry. Unions were one hand in the pot that bankrupted Detroit. And that's a shame, because now employees have literally no one watching their backs. At-will employment and an employer-friendly environment creates a hostile work place where employees of many companies never know when or why they're going to be fired.

Unions aren't entirely bad. Employers aren't entirely bad. It's just a shame we can't figure out a good balance of employer and employee protection.

Re: Why I Was Fired From a Tech Startup and What My Boss Had to Say About It

#39

Post by rfnslyr »

peter_l_downs wrote: post #19

> I was told that neither salary nor equity were negotiable, but I was sold on the promise of the company. Yo, fuck that. Everything is negotiable to one degree or another. That sounds like someone trying to take advantage of you.

I've never understood that. Just taking a job because OH MY GOD JOB. I've been in on going salary negotiations for over two months, all while they paid me the highest contrator salary just to have me stay on. Straight up said "Pay me X or I walk, thanks". 5 second meeting.

FUCK company/corporate loyalty. I'm here to get paid so I can fund an adventurous life, not to make you richer. I'm here to make myself richer and that's 100% all there is to it.

Know your value, unless you're really in a bind.

That was it.

Re: Why I Was Fired From a Tech Startup and What My Boss Had to Say About It

#40

Post by md224 »

cjensen wrote: post #26

His boss fired him and told him why? Never do that. When firing someone in an at-will state, just do it and explain nothing. Explanations can easily lead to lawsuits. It's just not worth the risk.

Unrelated to the validity of this advice: it's kind of sad that our society has evolved legal structures that make it prohibitively risky to tell another human being why you're taking an action against them.

Hmm... what if you could have an employee sign a release as a precondition of being told why they were fired?

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